


I wonder if you ever see the sun

by anecdotalist



Series: Not a Zombie Apocalypse [1]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, and it's unbeta'd just to warn you, because it happened before the story and it's how Zayn became a zombie, but it's all good now, firefighter!Liam, kind of major character death except not really, this is just filled with silliness, zombie!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2548778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anecdotalist/pseuds/anecdotalist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Nice costume, mate, but you're a bit late for Halloween, aren't you?"</p><p>The zombie - man - scowled and lifted a bag and shook it; Liam could hear the rattle of presumably a full bag of candy. "Already got tons here, don't I? You knock on people's doors and all they want to do is shove sugary sweets at you and tell you to go away. I need your help."</p><p>"Oh, okay. Did your car break down? You need to call for a lift or something?" But as he peered around the other man, Liam could see that the street was empty.</p><p>"No. I wish it was that simple. I woke up in the graveyard last night. I think I'm a zombie."</p><p>-----------------<br/>Or,</p><p>Liam wakes up the morning after Halloween to find a zombie knocking on his door. Just a cute little ficlet.</p><p>Update 1/17/2015: Check out the companion fic/sequel - <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3188153">The Life and Times of Zayn the Zombie.</a> :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the incessant knocking on his door that finally pulled Liam out of bed and stumbling out of his room, throwing up his arm to block the overly bright sunlight from his eyes. Damn Louis and his ability to talk Liam into things he always regrets the next day. Such as those last couple of Jager bombs.

"I'm coming!" he croaked out and finally the knocking stopped, though unfortunately the pounding in his head did not. Damn Louis again. Gingerly, he unlatched the door and pulled it open, leaning heavily against the doorframe as he squinted at his early morning visitor - a man dressed like a zombie. "Nice costume, mate, but you're a bit late for Halloween, aren't you?"

The zombie - man - scowled and lifted a bag and shook it; Liam could hear the rattle of presumably a full bag of candy. "Already got tons here, don't I. You knock on people's doors and all they want to do is shove sugary sweets at you and tell you to go away. I need your help."

"Oh, okay. Did your car break down? You need to call for a lift or something?" But as he peered around the other man, Liam could see that the street was empty.

"No. I wish it was that simple. I woke up in the graveyard last night. I think I'm a zombie." The man looked woefully up at Liam and held out his arms to show off his dirt covered clothes and skin. Underneath the layer of dirt, it looked like he wearing what used to be a pretty nice suit. His face looked sunken and gaunt, skin pale, and stitches on his right temple.

Liam smiled. "That really is an ace costume, mate. Very realistic. You probably shouldn't have smeared dirt all over that suit, though, that's gonna cost a fortune to get out."

The man scowled again. "It's not a costume! Look!" He grabbed Liam's hand and pressed it against his face and it felt like just a thin, cold layer of skin covering bones. He rubbed at his cheek lightly but no white make-up came off.

Liam snatched his hand back and gaped. "Oh my god. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, I'm going to _kill_ Louis. What did he put in those drinks?"

The man - zombie? - raised an eyebrow at him. Or what was left of his eyebrow. "This isn't a hallucination. It's real life. Or death, I suppose. Anyway, can you help me?"

"Help you how?!" Liam wailed. "Is this it? Is this the apocalypse? Are zombies really going to take over the world?"

"Relax, babe. Maybe we should take this inside before your neighbors get curious."

"Right, right." Liam stepped back and gestured for the man - zombie - to enter. "Ugh, a zombie just called me 'babe.' I don't even know what's going on anymore." The zombie patted him on the shoulder and Liam flinched. "You're really just skin and bones all over, aren't you?"

The zombie frowned, holding his hand up and turning it around. It did indeed look skeletally skinny. "Hmm, guess that's what happens when you've been dead for six months," he murmured contemplatively. "Why don't you go get a glass of water? It'll help with the hangover."

"Yeah, I think I will. You want some?" Liam asked, falling back into the polite hosting manners his mother had drilled into him.

"Sure."

"Okay. You can take a seat wherev - no, wait, don't go in the living room, I just had the carpet cleaned and you're filthy."

"Gee, thanks."

Liam rolled his eyes. He could hear the sarcasm from the other room. Great. Not just a zombie but a sarcastic one. This was turning out to be one hell of a morning. He was never going out with Louis again.

He filled two glasses with some tap water and walked back out to find that the zombie had settled himself at his dining table. Liam grimaced and made a note to disinfect that before he ate on it. He offered one of the glasses to the zombie and took a seat himself.

Silence descended as Liam tried to figure out how one makes polite small talk with a member of the undead.

"So...you ever watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

The zombie snorted. "Really?"

Liam shrugged defensively. "Well, I've never been in this kind of situation before! I don't know where to start."

"How about we start with names? I'm Zayn. Zayn Malik."

"Liam Payne. Oh, hey, were you that uni student who died in a car accident?"

Zayn grimaced. "Yeah. Idiot drunk driver got me on my way home from the library."

"I'm sorry."

Zayn waved his hand dismissively. "Not your fault." He brightened suddenly, "Hey, do you think you could call my mum? Let her know I'm okay?"

Now it was Liam's turn to raise an eyebrow incredulously. "And say what? Hi Mrs. Malik, just wanted to let you know that your son's a zombie now but don't worry, he's okay? She'd have me committed! If not scream at me and burst into tears because I've brought up bad memories for her."

Zayn slumped in his seat. "Yeah, I guess. This sucks."

Liam nodded sympathetically. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know. What do zombies do? I don't really feel like doing the walking-around-with-my-arms-out-and-moaning-all-night thing."

"Hmm."

They lapsed back into silence, Zayn staring thoughtfully out the window and Liam swirling his finger through the condensation on his glass. Finally, though, his nose couldn't take it anymore. "You wanna take a shower? That might help you feel better."

Zayn's brow furrowed. "Are you saying I stink?"

"Just a bit like rotting death, y'know."

Zayn bent an arm up and took a sniff, then shrugged. "I guess so. It doesn't seem that strong to me."

"Mate, I think your sense of smell's off."

"Oh. That makes sense. Okay then, where's your bathroom?" He stood up and stretched, letting out a sigh as he cracked his hands.

Liam winced and looked away. "Um, I think your thumb came out of its socket."

"Oh, thanks."

Liam winced again at the 'pop' of it being pushed back in. He couldn't believe this was actually happening to him. He led Zayn to the bathroom and got him settled there with a towel, a change of clothes, and a spare toothbrush. Then he went back to the kitchen to have a (minor) freakout.

After a few minutes, he forcibly took a couple of deep breaths. "Okay, Payno, pull yourself together. You run into burning buildings for a living. This is nothing." He focused on his breathing and could feel his heart slowing back down. Gradually, he noticed some singing rising over the sound of the shower and he tilted his head to listen. Didn't sound like a song he recognized but, "he's pretty good." Liam grimaced. "And now I'm talking to myself. Great. Just great."

Sighing, he set about making tea and gathering the ingredients for a big fry-up. He was just plating the food when Zayn walked out looking, well, still pale and gaunt, but cleaner. There was still a faint stench of rotting flesh clinging to him but Liam supposed that's what happened when you were an undead.

"Better?" Zayn asked pointedly.

Liam nodded firmly. "Much. Breakfast?"

Zayn's eyes lit up. "Yeah, I'm famished! Oh, but I don't eat pork, I'm Muslim."

"But you're - um, never mind. Okay then," Liam skipped over the bacon and dished out a portion of everything else onto a plate for the other boy.

They sat down again at the dining table and Liam watched in bemusement as Zayn tried some of the food, frowned, sprinkled some salt, tried some more food, frowned again, and added more salt. After two more rounds of this, he finally looked up at Liam with a frustrated expression. "You got any hot sauce?"

"Maybe?" He got up and rummaged around in his condiment cabinet. He didn't like spicy foods himself but he thought he remembered saving some packets from the last time he had gotten delivery. "Oh, here we go!" He grabbed all the ones he could see - eight - and dropped them in front of Zayn.

"Thanks mate."

He watched as Zayn went through the same routine - open a packet of hot sauce, take a bite of food, frown, add another packet of hot sauce, try another bite of food, frown, add another packet of hot sauce. He finally, and luckily, seemed satisfied after he had drenched his food in all of the hot sauce Liam had given him.

"Mm, that's so good. I really missed food," he moaned.

"I take it your taste buds aren't the same as they used to be?"

"Yeah, a bit," he said. "But at least I can still taste hot sauce."

"But you put so much of it," Liam pointed out. His own mouth burned just from the thought of it.

"What, this? Nah, it's only a little more than usual. I've always liked spicy foods."

"Okay, maybe _that's_ why your taste buds are gone and not because you're dead."

Zayn stuck his tongue out at Liam. Liam returned the gesture and they both giggled. They finished the rest of their meal in comfortable silence and when they were doing the washing up, Liam decided to bring up the topic of Zayn's future again.

"Look, you can't go back home, right?"

Zayn sighed. "Right."

"And you probably shouldn't be wandering around the streets. It can get pretty dangerous out there."

"Okay...." Zayn eyed him with curiosity.

Liam took a fortifying breath. "Why don't you stay here for a bit until you figure out what to do next?" 

Zayn broke out into a blinding grin. "Yeah, that'd be brilliant! Thanks, Liam!" He threw his arms around Liam, who hugged back automatically, pressed a kiss to his cheek, and then bound out of the room, calling out something about having a movie marathon to catch up on everything he'd missed.

Liam stayed by the sink, hand cupping his cheek where he could still feel the imprint of Zayn's lips. He felt a little dazed. He had a feeling this was a turning point in his life and he could only hope that it was a good thing and that he didn't just kickstart the zombie apocalypse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Zayn has cravings for a certain...delicacy.

Liam woke up the next morning and nearly panicked when he didn't see any sign of Zayn in the house. The two of them had stayed up marathoning Marvel movies and eating popcorn (two separate bowls, extra salt on Zayn's because he was taste-challenged now). He'd finally gone upstairs to sleep when he started dozing off during The Winter Soldier and left Zayn watching the rest of the movie with intense concentration. 

But now there were no signs of the other boy, except that the apartment was unusually clean. The throw was folded up on one end of the couch, the pillows fluffed and neatly lined up, the bowls holding the popcorn and the dishes from dinner had been washed, dried, and stored away. Liam whistled lowly and wondered if Zayn would be adverse to staying forever. His mum would probably stop worrying about his ability to take care of himself with Zayn around. But where was he? What if whatever magic that turned him into a zombie wore off and he had disintegrated? What if he ended up wandering the neighborhood and got caught by the police? What if he went back to his grave?

Liam made another quick circle, checking the guest bathroom to make sure the other boy wasn't passed out in the shower, and then went outside to his patio, where he pulled up short at the sight of Zayn laying on the grass. Liam bit back a grin. "Are you sleeping with the daisies? That's kinda cliche, don't you think?"

"Shaddup," Zayn grumbled but his eyes twinkled in amusement when he lifted his head to share a look with Liam, who couldn't hold back his grin anymore at the sight of Zayn wearing a daisy chain crown. Zayn pointed an index finger at him threateningly. "Don't even." He settled back down and folded his hands under his head. "I like the way they smell. And I have to get really close to be able to smell them. Did you have a good night? Slept well?"

Liam shrugged. "Yeah, it was alright, I s'pose."

"Well, that's good. Know what I found out? Not only do I not need to sleep but I actually can't fall asleep. I also can't get high. And I can't get it up. And the night is bloody long when you can't do any of those things!" He pouted and turned a mournful set of eyes on Liam, who couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. "It's not funny!"

Liam stifled a snort behind his knuckles. "No, I know. It's just, you've been dead for months and you only just got back two nights ago. It probably just takes time." He turned to go back inside. "I'm going to get some cereal. You want any?"

"Oh, um, I, er, kinda finished it last night? Sorry." Zayn's pout intensified and his eyes turned earnest. Liam could practically see a halo hovering over his head.

"That's alright but you should have told me if dinner wasn't enough. I could have made something else for you," Liam chided gently.

"No, it was fine. I just got hungry again during the night. And I had these crazy cravings for _something_ and I couldn't figure it out but I think I have an idea now."

Liam raised a brow expectantly.

"Brains!"

"What?!" Liam yelped, straightening up and taking a step back. "Don't eat mine!" He wrapped his arms around his head protectively.

"What, no, eww! What would I do with the rest of your body if I ate your brains? I'm not into necrophilia, thanks," Zayn said drily.

"Don't you mean cannibalism?"

"Nope, definitely meant necrophilia." Zayn gave Liam a slow once-over and smirked, licking his lips. Liam flushed. Being hit on by an undead guy. Not something he ever thought would happen to him but now he could cross it off of his bucket list (once he put it on there, that is).

They did eventually go inside and Liam made some scrambled eggs with green peppers, tomatoes, and onions for both of them. Zayn's faux-suffering expression made him laugh and promise to buy more hot sauce when he went to the market today. Then he pulled out his laptop and they looked up brains for sale.

To his surprise and relief, there were butcher shops that sold brains so it seemed like Zayn wouldn't have to try to do anything drastic like find and kill a sheep or burglarize a biology lab for dissected sheep brains.

"I can't believe people eat this regularly but it does make things easier. It looks like there are a couple of Chinatown shops that sell pig brains and halal butchers that have lamb brains. I'm guessing you want the lamb ones, right?"

Zayn grinned widely at him. "You remembered!"

"Of course," Liam said, mildly affronted. "You only just told me yesterday that you don't eat pork."

"Sometimes people don't remember," Zayn shrugged. He snagged a piece of paper and scribbled down a list of ingredients. "Could you also get these? I want to make a curry."

"Sure. And I'll get some chicken. You like that, right?" Liam asked, adding that to the list.

"I love it. It's my favorite."

"What about breakfast? What do you want?"

"Wheetabix! Oh, I miss those!" Zayn said wistfully. Liam wrote that in as well and Zayn threw his arms around him, smacking a kiss to his cheek. "You're so good to me! I'm so jealous of your...girlfriend?"

"It's not very polite to fish for information."

In response, Zayn just smiled angelically and fluttered his lashes.

Liam sighed. "I did have one but we broke up a month ago."

"Aww," Zayn cooed, though he looked happier than Liam thought the situation called for. "I'm sorry, babe. How do you feel about boys?"

Liam bit back an almost automatic "I dunno" and instead said slowly, "Don't knock it till you try it, right?" at which Zayn's eyes positively lit up with glee. "Okay, I'm gonna go now. You take care and don't get into any trouble here. I'll be back soon," Liam squeaked out and then nearly bolted out of the house. He wasn't proud of it but he was also sure that if he blushed any harder, his face would have caught on fire.

For the next couple of hours, he focused on finding all the things that he and Zayn had put on the list and felt much more in control of himself when he returned home. As soon as he stepped inside, Zayn, who had been lounging on the couch listlessly watching television, bolted up and sniffed the air.

"You found it!"

"Yeah....how did you know?"

"I can smell it! Mm, it smells really good."

Liam took a cautious sniff himself but couldn't smell anything. "Strange, you seem really tuned into the smell of brains, but not anything else. I don't know if I should be freaked out or curious about that."

Zayn laughed. "Worry about it later. Come on, I wanna eat."

Together, they headed into the kitchen where Liam took out the package of brains he'd gotten from the closest halal butcher. As he put away the rest of the groceries, Zayn unwrapped the package and then scrunched up his nose at it. "Huh, it kinda looks like raw ground meat."

Liam looked over and nodded. "Yeah, surprising, isn't it? So...are you just going to eat it like that? Cuz I think I'm going to have to excuse myself from the room if that's what you're planning."

"Ew, no, I'm not going to eat raw meat. Did you find all the ingredients I gave you?" At Liam's nod, he rubbed his hands gleefully. "Great! I'm going to make lamb brain curry. You want to try some?"

"Uh, no thanks, mate."

"Just as well. I don't know how it's going to turn out."

Liam helped him get set up at the stove and then turned to dig around in the freezer for something to defrost for his own dinner later. When he turned back, he yelped in alarm and snatched Zayn's arm back from the stove top. "Careful! You're too close to the flames, you'll catch on fire!"

"Oh," Zayn looked curiously at his arm. "I didn't even feel the heat."

Liam nudged him to the side. "You'd better just let me do the cooking."

And so that's how he made his first lamb brain curry. Zayn stood too close to him and told him what to add and when, he criticized Liam's way of stirring the pot, he insisted that Liam add more curry powder and chili flakes when he taste-tested the sauce and decided it wasn't spicy enough (it smelled strong enough to make Liam's eyes water, okay, so the problem was with Zayn's taste buds and not with the sauce, but Liam kept his mouth shut on that), and then he plowed through the meal like a man (or zombie) starved. 

"Good?" Liam asked with mild amusement and gratification. He wasn't the greatest cook but Zayn seemed to like his cooking well enough. Though coming from someone with very little functional taste buds, that probably wasn't the best endorsement ever. He stored the leftovers in a tupperware container for Zayn to eat the next couple of days, when he was on his shift at the fire station.

"Mmhmm. Very filling. Thanks, Leeyum!" Zayn said with a wide grin, putting the empty bowl in the sink. "I'll clean this later, okay? Let's watch Iron Man 3 again."

Liam laughed but went along easily. He never could say no to Marvel. Later, during a lull in the movie, he glanced over and startled. "Zayn!" he exclaimed, and paused the movie.

"What? What is it?" Zayn asked, whipping around to face him.

"Your skin! It's almost pinkish. And the scar on your head! It's almost healed." Liam reached out slowly and touched the stitches on Zayn's forehead. They were starting to disintegrate, but the skin underneath looked shiny and new. He picked up Zayn's hand and held it up to the light, squinting closely at it - it still looked paler than what was probably normal but it was much healthier looking than when Zayn had first showed up on his doorstep the day before. It felt warmer too. "Oh my God, you're really coming back to life!" Getting up, he pulled Zayn behind him to the bathroom, situating the other boy in front of the mirror. "Look!"

Zayn gasped, leaning forward and examining his face more closely. "This is amazing!" He turned on first the hot water and then the cold water, running his hands under the faucet. "I can feel the difference in temperature!" 

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know. D'ya think it was the brains? Maybe there's a reason zombies in the movies always go for brains?"

"But how would the movie directors even know that?"

"Maybe they're all based on the same urban legends?"

"Mate, are you saying that maybe zombies have been around forever and those legends are actually true stories passed down from generation to generation to teach people about real zombies?"

Zayn laughed, and seemed strangely light and hopeful but that was probably because now there was a chance that he wasn't going to just slowly rot to pieces. "I wouldn't have said it in quite that way, but who knows, maybe!"

"Oh," Liam said, feeling a little faint. "I guess there might be a zombie apocalypse after all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No offense meant to anyone who eats brains. :)
> 
> I really did google where to buy brains and I found [this](http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/913843) for anyone who's interested.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Thriller by MJ. Partly inspired by the image of pouty chibi-zombie!Zayn but I can't draw so I wrote this instead. =S
> 
> Feel free to come chat! I'm [likealeafonthewind on Tumblr](likealeafonthewind.tumblr.com).


End file.
